


Like the Stars

by insaneshadowfangirl



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Garnet's Kisses, How Do I Tag This, Pre-Series, Pregnancy, dammit Sora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 04:29:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7920553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insaneshadowfangirl/pseuds/insaneshadowfangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose sometimes needs to ask Garnet to show her the consequences of her actions.</p><p>She only wants to know if she should go to the concert that's sprung up on the beach.</p><p>Instead, she sees something breathtaking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like the Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sora_Tayuya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sora_Tayuya/gifts).



> My first Steven Universe fic, filled with theories and headcanons but mostly pain. Because pain is what I adore.
> 
> Jsyk you can blame Sora for this too (if you read most of my Undertale stuff you'll know exactly what I mean). They learned I like this show and begged me not to tear their heart out for two fandoms.
> 
> Challenge accepted.
> 
> I'm not actually all that happy with how this turned out, but I'm too tired to add to it.

There was a concert set up on the beach.

 

While not an uncommon occurrence, Rose Quartz still found herself curious. Normally, the seats in front of the stage would fill so rapidly after they were set up that Rose didn't even have a chance to think about sneaking over. Pearl would have a fit if she allowed herself to be seen by so many humans. She understood the other Crystal Gems's caution... But that didn't mean she had to like it.

 

And this time, there was nobody in the seats yet.

 

Still... It was best to err on the side of caution, right?

 

“Garnet? Would you please help me with something?”

 

Garnet's kisses were... Interesting. What was seen during those fleeting moments after her lips made contact with one's forehead could span years, centuries even, in the blink of an eye, or take an entire minute to process a few seconds' glimpse into the future.

 

Rose tried not to rely on them. For all their usefulness, one tiny change in the timeline could knock everything out of whack and completely change everything until it was unrecognizable from the vision one had seen.

 

Still, it should be able to show her any major disasters that would potentially spawn from her attendance at the concert.

 

1234567890

 

Garnet's lips made contact, and for a moment, just a moment, Rose _saw_...

 

She saw a man who'd sweep her off of her feet.

 

She saw her Pearl's jealousy. Her Garnet's amusement. Her Amethyst's amazement.

 

She saw Greg Universe, with his dorky, klutzy ways, suddenly turning from another fling to something _more_.

 

She saw another kiss from Garnet.

 

And so, Rose Quartz went to a concert on the beach.

 

She met a man who swept her off her feet.

 

She watched as her Pearl grew jealous. As her Garnet became amused by it all. As her Amethyst was stunned by the complexities of human life.

 

And Greg Universe became something _more_ than a fling, with his dorky, klutzy ways.

 

And Rose... was happy.

 

But...

 

There was something...

 

Something missing.

 

Maybe it was Greg's misadventures with the little child, Sour Cream. Maybe it was the sight of parents running about the beach after their wayward charges. Maybe she simply wanted to prove that her love of a human was not only real but _right_ , that a gem could love a human and create something better than Homeworld could ever possibly dream up.

 

She asked Garnet for another kiss.

 

1234567890

 

Garnet's lips made contact, and for a moment, just a moment, Rose _saw_...

 

She saw that it was possible.

 

She saw the consequences.

 

She saw Steven Quartz Universe. A tiny human baby with a beautiful pink stone right in his belly button. Then crawling, and taking his first steps. His first word-- “Garnet.”

 

He stopped growing, but kept learning.

 

Kept dreaming.

 

Rose Quartz saw Pearl's sadness. Garnet's adoration. Amethyst's insecurites.

 

She saw a Lapis Lazuli and a Peridot as Steven opened their hearts to the beauty of earth.

 

She saw a lovely young girl who became his friend, then his first fusion, then his battle partner.

 

She saw a Jasper determined to win.

 

Yellow Diamond determined to destroy.

 

She saw strife, she saw conflict.

 

She saw Greg dancing with Pearl.

 

She saw Ruby and Sapphire, split apart but brought back together.

 

She saw love, she saw hope.

 

Her child shone like the stars.

 

And so, Rose Quartz decided that the consequences were worth it.

 

1234567890

 

“Greg? We need to talk.”

 

She told him. She couldn't bring herself to lie to him.

 

Prolonged shapeshifting was incredibly dangerous to gems.

 

Carrying a child required the body to make room, to rearrange itself.

 

This was fine for humans. It was what their biology was made to do.

 

The same was not true for gems.

 

Rose could simulate the proper biology. (If fact, she had. She had waited until it was far too late to stop her from taking this path before mentioning the risk to anybody, let alone explaining just _how_ giving birth to her beautiful child would destroy her.) But Steven would require time more than anything else. Time to grow, to mature in her copied womb.

 

If she let up on her shapeshifting for even a moment, she would kill her baby before he even had a chance to see the sun.

 

“You're not going to tell them?”

 

“I'll tell them that making Steven will require me to give up my physical form.”

 

Greg's eyes were stern. “A lie of omission is still a lie, Rose.”

 

“... I know.” But it would be better this way. She had many secrets. This was just another one. “But they'll think they still have me, and it will make it easier for them to accept him, to accept that I won't be coming back.”

 

“If you knew what would happen, why go through with it?” Greg's voice was so distressed, she felt bad for making him like this.

 

“Steven... Will be _beautiful_. He'll shine like the stars.” Rose felt tears well in her eyes at the thought of some of the things she'd seen. So beautiful... Steven wouldn't be perfect, far from it. But that would be what _made_ him perfect. What made him _human_.

 

1234567890

 

A few months passed.

 

Rose could feel her time coming nearer.

 

She gave birth in the human fashion, to a tiny, squishy human baby.

 

It hurt. It had hurt to carry him, too, but Rose had dealt with worse than that. This, though, this was tearing her apart from the inside.

 

Still, she thought of her baby, of the person he would become. She could feel herself fading.

 

She was falling apart.

 

That was... okay.

 

Because she had Steven in her arms, and he was staring up at her with such lovely eyes...

 

His gem, the exact size and shape of her own, shone in the light. Her own gem mimicked the light.

 

She hummed softly to the baby as he began to cry. “ _Hush my child, hush my dear... mother has you... I am here... Please, my child... Don't you cry... you're the apple... of... my... eye...”_

 

Rose lost herself to the darkness of oblivion, the last image imprinted on her mind that of a tiny baby with a gummy smile beaming up at her.

 


End file.
